the Fly Clone Project

I opened up the control cavity on my 94 Deluxe today, and saw these markings on the inside of the cover:
This is the only Parker I’ve opened up, but I’m guessing this wasn’t a stock thing. Or maybe it is - I really have no idea.

I was told from the previous owner that this guitar was purchased directly from Ken somewhere in NY in 2004. It was supposedly one that he kept for himself, and got rid of around the time he sold the company. I have no idea if this is true, but the previous owner is a good friend of mine, and I doubt he made the story up.

EDIT: I suppose I should add that the reason I opened it up is because the leads for the battery seem pretty long, and it’s a pretty tight squeeze to get the wires and battery back in the battery cavity correctly. I managed to pull the leads back into the control cavity a bit. Again, I’m not sure if this is how it was done stock, but it seems a bit precarious - like I’m very careful every time I change a battery not to crimp or distress the wires.

Lastly, one of the threaded inserts that holds the battery cover screw to the body has come undone. It still threads back in to the wood, but I’m worried that over time it’ll strip out. I guess I could just use some wood glue, but maybe there’s a better solution.

Hi @Stella,

It’s difficult to say what that writing is for, and it’s definitely not something that all Parkers have. It does look very much like @Ken Parker’s handwriting, to me. When Ken left the company, he did sell off many of the instruments he had to support the launch of Ken Parker Archtops; much of what he had to sell, however, were instruments that needed some work, which might explain why his writing (assuming it’s his…and I’m pretty sure it is) might be on the inside.

It’s speculation, and Ken might not remember, but I hope this helps!

What looks familiar for me is Wo# which can typically in other industries relate to "work order number". 123279 is possibly/probably the work order number. The only thing I can add to that from the visual aspect is that Wo# 123279 appears thicker and leads me to think that this was notated before or after the other notations. The other notations might indicate by "Code" the work that was to be done or the work that was done for purposes of documentation for that work order. Hope this helps a little.

I don't have anything certain to contribute beyond also having owned Flys with the sharpie'd foil side of the rear covers. I just assumed it was for the sake of logging the progress of orders as they moved along the assembly line (I think both of the '97s I've owned had writing).